Karoos and another surprising evening stroll...

I left Oudtshoorn and the friendly confines of the Cape region and struck into the interior of SA.  Oudtshoorn lies in the land called the Little Karoo, which is the area on the other side of the moutains from the sea coast region of the Cape (the ocean is about 60 miles away).  It is quite dry, as the mountains trap the moisture and keep on the coast.   Beyond the Little Karoo is the Great Karoo which takes one deep into the interior of SA.

Well as between Little and Great, I am always going to opt for Great when it comes to Karoos  It was a long drive across the Great Karoo, which- to quote my Cave guide- is sort of a green Nevada (a bit of an oxymoron, I know).  I took some pics, but for some reason the camera got stuck on black and white and Karoos look better in color.

Anyway, I landed in this little town of Clarens which is apparently the art capital of SA.  I do not know about that, but it did have a nice micro brew and my b&b was very nice-

It had this beautiful garden out the back with more birds than any place I have ever been.

After leaving the Karoos, great and little, I ended up in the central Drakensberg area which reputedly has some of the best hiking in Africa.  Behind my bnb, there was a easy hiking trail and I decided to take a walk on it before going to dinner.   In addition to some stunning mtn scenery, it yielded some surprising results-

There was a small herd of zebras and wildebeasts not far from the trail, even if I initially mistook the wildebeast for water buffalo (these cattle like beasts all look the same from a distance).  You do not see that hiking everyday.  Another surprising pre-dinner walk.